Rapids, Quakes in position battle

The Earthquakes put together their finest performance of the season - with something close to a first-choice team for the first time in months - in the 3-1 victory against the Rapids on July 31.

A surgical passing movement set up the Quakes' and Ching's first, ripping home a perfectly-weighted through ball from Ronnie Ekelund from just inside the area (22).

The Quakes then scored twice in five minutes after the break to put away the match. Ching grabbed his second when he tapped in from almost on the goal line after a wild sequence that saw Landon Donovan stopped twice in short order, first by Joe Cannon, then by the post. But Donovan found Ramiro Corrales for a third bite at the cherry, and he drove a low cross through a host of Rapids defenders to find Ching (50). Donovan then hit for the third, drilling home first-time a Brian Mullan cross whipped in from the right flank.

Seth Trembly pulled back a consolation goal for the Rapids seven minutes from the final whistle when he hammered home a shot from all of 25 yards past Quakes 'keeper Pat Onstad.

In the first meeting, the Rapids claimed a 1-0 victory in Denver on April 24. Chris Henderson scored a 26th-minute goal, ripping a low drive from inside the penalty area beat San Jose 'keeper Pat Onstad just inside his right-hand post.

A year ago, the Rapids won both meetings in San Jose, the 'Quakes winning once in Denver with the other match a scoreless draw.

The Earthquakes won the season-opening match between the two clubs at Invesco Field on April 12 (Roberts 46 - Ching 1, Dunivant 22), but the Rapids won the next two, both at Spartan Stadium. They won 2-0 on July 12 (Kotschau 34, Chung 49), then 2-1 on Aug. 30 (Mullan 59 - Chung 21, Spencer 67), before the scoreless draw in San Jose on Oct. 10.

The victories in San Jose for the Rapids last year snapped a four-match winless streak (three consecutive losses) for Colorado away in the series. The Rapids loss at home to San Jose in the season opener last year snapped a three-match home winning streak for Colorado in the series.

Mark Chung leads current Rapids players with 5 goals, 5 assists in his career v San Jose, but only 4 goals, 1 assist have come while with Colorado. Chris Henderson has 4 goals, 7 assists v San Jose, with 2 goals, 6 assists while with the Rapids. John Spencer and Ritchie Kotschau have 3 goals each v San Jose, Spencer also with 4 assists.

Landon Donovan has 4 goals, 7 assists v Colorado, leading all active 'Quakes and second on the club's all-time list (behind Ronald Cerritos), while Brian Ching has 3 goals. No other current Earthquakes player has more than 1 goal v Colorado, though Brian Mullan has 5 assists, and Richard Mulrooney has four. Ian Russell has 0 goals, 5 assists.

The Colorado Rapids lost for the second consecutive match on the road, this time a 1-0 defeat to the Kansas City Wizards on Saturday evening at Arrowhead Stadium. The result left the Rapids in a tie for second place in the Western Conference with the Los Angeles Galaxy with 39 points, though the Rapids have played one more game - and if the teams remained tied, the Galaxy would also own the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Igor Simutenkov was once again the hero, scoring less than a minute after coming on as a substitute to the give the Wizards the victory.

Simutenkov played a neat 1-2 with Josh Wolff across the top of the area before sliding a rolling shot past Joe Cannon for the game's only goal (55) as the Rapids went down to defeat for the second consecutive week.

On Wednesday, Simutenkov gave the Wizards their first U.S. Open Cup, his free kick that rattled off the underside of the bar and off Fire 'keeper Henry Ring five minutes into extra time giving K.C. a 1-0 victory against the Chicago Fire.

Rapids head coach Tim Hankinson made just one change to the team that lost 6-1 to the New England Revolution in Foxborough the previous Saturday. Ricky Lewis made his start in a Rapids uniform as Jean-Philippe Peguero was unable to play through injury, though Hankinson also had a tactical re-fit.

"I think you have to establish that the most important thing we were looking for was to improve our play," Hankinson said. "We really battled and competed and had one late breakdown on defense. We've got to do a better job when opposing players run across the box."

Hankinson will be without defender Antonio de la Torre this weekend, suspended for caution point accumulation. Darryl Powell, listed as out on the club's injury report, has returned to full training and could be available.

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

The San Jose Earthquakes failed to score for the second consecutive match and the fourth time in their last six league matches, playing to a scoreless draw with the Los Angeles Galaxy at Spartan Stadium on Saturday night. The draw extended the Earthquakes winless streak to fourth games though they snapped a three-game losing streak, and are now tied for fourth place in the Western Conference with Dallas Burn, both on 35 points from 27 matches, though they own the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Burn.

Scoring chances were few and far between as the Earthquakes and Galaxy played the final 'California Clasico' of the league campaign.

The result left the Galaxy tied with the Colorado Rapids for second place in the West, while the Earthquakes pulled into a tie for fourth place with the Dallas Burn.

"I guess 0-0 could be a pretty fair result for how the game was," Earthquakes head coach Dominic Kinnear said.

Kinnear made two changes to the team that lost 1-0 away to the Kansas City Wizards the previous weekend. Eddie Robinson came back into the back four in his first start since April 24 (the fourth game of the season), replacing Ryan Cochrane. Chris Brown came into the attack to partner Landon Donovan as Brian Ching was out through a quadriceps injury.

"I don't think we're going to win the West now," Kinnear said, "but at the finish line, we want to make the playoffs. Every team in the West has a tough homestretch, but we're going to Colorado trying to get three points (with a win)."

PLAYOFF SCENARIOS

The Colorado Rapids clinch a place in the MLS Cup Playoffs with a victory against the San Jose Earthquakes, or a tie against the Quakes AND a Dallas Burn loss.

The San Jose Earthquakes are currently tied for fourth place in the Western Conference, but if the season were to end today, they would claim the final berth in the division by virtue of a better record in head-to-head competition (SJ 2 wins, DAL 1 win)

Following are the tiebreaking procedures if teams are level in the standings:

a. Head-to-head competition against all other teams equal in points, based on highest points-per-game average.

b. Overall team goal differential.

c. Total goals scored.

d-f. Tiebreakers a-c are applied to each team's regular-season road games only.

g-i. Tiebreakers a-c are applied to each team's regular-season home games only.

Series A - D played under home-and-home, total goals format ... If teams tied on aggregate, 30-minute, golden-goal overtime period follows, then followed by penalty kicks (if necessary) to determine Series winner ... Higher seed holds home-field advantage for Game 2 of Series ... Conference Championship Games and MLS Cup, if tied after 90 minutes, determined by 30-minute, golden-goal overtime ... If neither team scores during that time, the series will be decided via penalty kick shootout held according to FIFA regulations

Series A-D - Game One

Weekend of Friday, October 22 - Sunday, October 24 @ LOWER-SEED home site

Series A-D - Game Two (+ 30-minute golden-goal period, if tied on aggregate goals)

Weekend of Friday, October 29 - Friday, October 31 @ HIGHER-SEED home site